texasviany

OK…this one has me stumped. My Spyder has a LI battery and its on the official Porsche trickle charger all the time. I start the car run a few errands and park it at a friends house for a drink. I go to leave and the car won't turn over. All lights, fans, etc came on. The starter was not making the clicking noise. (So battery was partially dead, not totally dead.) So I pop start the car going down a hill (try that with PDK!) and I drive home. Before I pull in I stop the car at the top of a hill and turn to car off and re-started it. It started….so in the 12 mile drive the battery recharged partially. I park the car and put the trickle charger on. 24 hours later, I go to start the car and nothing…just like the first time. I plug the trickle charger in and it started! That's barley any more amperage when you think of it. So its like the battery is not holding juice enough the start the car.

Any ideas? Bad battery or bad connection or alternator?

Thanks!

extanker

you need to put some test equipment on the system and post some of the readings.............like voltage etc

BostonDuce

SWAG's
1. loose or oxidized connection, 2. prolonged cold soak < 40 degrees, 3. bad battery cell.

BD

texasviany

I will check the connections this weekend. The car is in an underground garage. Never below 50. The last battery had a bad cell that blew.

Marine Blue

Weird, I had this exact same problem on my C32 over the weekend although I drive that car 90 miles a day. I was with customers and went to fire it up after taking them to dinner and nothing. Talk about embarrassing! Someone nearby had jumpers and we jumped the car instantly and I drove another 60 miles before shutting it down. I had the battery tested and it was fine so I parked the car overnight. Next morning....nothing. I was ready to buy a battery and when I went to disconnect the battery I saw a spark at the negative terminal. I then pushed my hand against the ground wire and saw the connection swivel. Tightened it up and the car fired right up. Check the the simple things first and then have the battery tested if that doesn't work.

Let us know what it ends up being.

texasviany

I checked the ground connection at the battery and its was tight. I will trace this back to the body. I also noticed that the Porsche trickle charger was not on the highest setting. I plan to try again today.

extanker

iirc those LI batteries have their own owners manual. so care ,testing etc may be different than a normal battery. i do not know if they can be load tested like a normal battery but i would guess they still require a good DVOM. i would try to get testing specs .is it under any dealer warranty ,i recall LI batts to be VERY expensive

texasviany

Yes….it was a $2500 option I believe. I had one in mu RS and I never had an issue. I have already had one replaced in this car! The only other thing that I changed was that I installed the OEM sport buckets, but I disconnected the battery before I started my work.

extanker

still waiting for voltage readings,batt specs to compare

Sportwagen

If your lights and accessories all come up on full power, but you are not hearing the “click” for the starter, my guess would be that the solenoid switch for the starter motor is broken or has a bad connection. Since your battery has enough power to turn on the lights, it should have enough power to turn on the magnet in the soleonoid and route current to the starter motor (the “click”). Typically, even on a badly drained battery, you can still get that solenoid to switch.

texasviany

I don't have a voltage reader anymore….all those tolls went with the race car. I am taking it to the dealer Tuesday. I will post the results there. My money is on a bad battery cell but the starter motor switch is plausible. Stay tuned….sucks its 80 this weekend.

texasviany

Problem solved: Faulty clutch pedal switch. Known issue according to the dealer

extanker

your first post said the battery was partially dead

texasviany

Logical assumption on my part. If the battery is almost totally dead, the starter cellunoid will click rapidly. I have seen it when the battery is low, but the starter won't click. Then I drive it and it starts fine after the drive….so it was logical to assume battery. Later on it won’t start and I put on trickle charger and then it starts…again its logical to assume battery. What I did not know is that when I depressed the clutch pedal, the sensor was faulty and it would be it or miss on the restart. Who would have known? The dealer showed me the Porsche recall notice….saying that they have replaced numerous switches. I never got the notice.

orthojoe

Yeah, the clutch switch on my spyder went bad several months after taking ownership. Replaced under warranty, and worked just fine, but was called back in for another replacement due to the recall.

The sign for me that it was going bad was the display telling me to depress the clutch pedal when I already was.